In an on-line shopping environment, sellers may offer products and services to buyers for purchase, either directly, or at auction. Traditionally, the seller relies on the selection of one or more keywords by the potential buyer, entered into a search engine, to locate the product or service offered for sale, perhaps as displayed within an advertisement or “ad.”
One business model invites the seller to purchase keywords that might be deemed relevant to potential buyers. In this case, the seller offers to pay a fee to a third party provider when the keywords have been viewed or clicked-through by interested buyers (e.g., buyers that have viewed the ad or that click through the ad displayed).
The keyword purchase model leads to several considerations by the seller. The technical challenges presented include, for example, how to select keywords that are most relevant to potential buyers of a particular product? How many keywords should be purchased? What price should be paid for the keywords? If the seller chooses keywords that are irrelevant, then sales are likely to be lost. On the other hand, if relevant keywords are chosen, and the keyword price is set at auction, the price paid may be so high that only minimal profits for the seller are returned. Thus, there is a need for more efficient systems and methods to assist sellers in promoting the items they wish to sell to targeted potential buyers within a networked commerce system.